Obtunding apparatus.



No. 799,811. PATENTED SEPT. 19, 1905. G. VAN WYOK.

OBTUNDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24,1905.

UNITED sra'rns PATENT oFFioE.

OBTUNDING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 19, 1905.

Application filed April 24, 1905. Serial No. 257,105.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CRITTENDEN VAN WYCK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Obtunding Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in obtunding apparatus for use in dental operations.

It is well known that if a spray of either hot or cold fluid, as water or air and ether, is directed continuously upon a tooth or other part to be operated on the part becomes practically numb and insensible to pain. Various instrumentalities have been used or tried to produce the desired result. Air and ether form an excellent medium to produce local anaesthesia in dentistry; but if the apparatus for applying the anesthetic is carried by the handpiece, as it generally is, it makes the handpiece heavy and bulky and wearies the operator. More objectionable than that, however, is the loss of time to the operatorand the pain caused the patient each time the handpiece is laid down to answer the telephone or to change a drill or bur or for any other reason, because it takes from five to ten minutes to get a tooth to the proper condition of numbness, but it only takes about one minute with the anesthetic removed for the tooth to assume its normal temperature, and consequentlyits normal sensibility to pain. Again, the present apparatus, as far as I know,makes no especial provision to shield the patient against breathing in thefumes of the anesthetic.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple practical apparatus which may be placed and held in position on the patient and be and remain entirelyindependent of the handpiece, which shall be capable of directing a spray in any desired direction and to any part of the mouth, which will maintain the spray continuously as long as necessary or desired, whether the operator is immediately at hand or not, and also which will provide a shield for the patients nostrils and a spreader and holder for the rubber dam.

The invention consists of the parts and combination of parts, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having referits bent or twisted position.

ence to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of my apparatus. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of controlling device in partial section.

A represents a nozzle constituting one of the mainfeatures of my "invention. This nozzle is connected in any suitable fashion with a source of anesthetizing-fluid supply and possesses the essential characteristics of being capable of being bent into any suitable shape or twisted in the mouth or around a tooth to direct the anesthetic as desired and of maintaining or of being made to maintain Preferably it is of some suitable flexible substance or material, such as soft metal, which can be bent or twisted without being broken, but which possesses sufiicient inherent rigidity as to maintain its bent or twisted shape against the pressure of the spraying medium. The nozzle may be of any length desired or necessary, and it is desirable that it be made quite small in diameter, so as to take up as little room as possible. I have successfully used a nozzle made of hollow wire drawn to a point and having, a swiveled coupling 2 at the opposite end for its connection to the device through which the air and an anesthetic, such as ether, is delivered.

The air and ether controlling device is here shown as comprising two parallel tubes 3 and 4, respectively connected with a source of airsu ply under pressure and with a source of et er or like supply also under pressure, the two tubes having respective controllingcocks 5 6 and so joined to one another that the jet of liquid is met by the current of air and discharged in the form of a fine s ray through the nozzle. This ejector is ma e very light, so that its weight is scarcely perceptible to the patient upon whom it is designed to be supported while the device is in use.

I have provided a simple and convenient means of support for the ejector, which will also serve the purpose of a holder and spreader for the rubber dam and especially serve as a shield for the patient against inhaling the fumes of the anesthetic.

7 represents a plate suitably curved transversely and out out along its lower edge, so as to rest against the upper lip of the patient and extend down on either side of the mouth.

The plate has a central outwardly-curved or convexed portion 8 fitting over the nose of the patient, but so fashioned as to leave plenty of space underneath the plate to breathe through. Suitable means, as the straps 9, may be provided to pass around the back of the head of the patient to hold the plate in position. At the several corners and midway of the top edge of the plate may be provided rubber-covered knobs or equivae lents 10, over which the rubber dam after having been properly inserted in the patients mouth may be stretched and held without the use of weights, straps, of other usual securing means. On each side of this plate and about in line with the corners of the mouth when the late is in position on the patient are provi ed suitable means, as the spring-clips 11, for removably holding the ejector in position.

In practice the plate is fitted to the patient and the dam applied and suitably stretched over the knobs 10. When it is desired to use the obtunder, the portion comprised by the connected tubes 3 4 is engaged in one or the other of the clamps 11, depending on which side the work is to be done. The nozzle A, which may be three or four inches in length, is then inserted into the patients mouth and bent into such position as to direct a spray when the cocks 5 6 are turned upon the part requiring treatment. This spray will be con-. tinued so long as the ejector remains in the mouth and the cooks remain open. Being very small and light, its presence is unnoticed by the patient. It is not in the way of the operator, and it leaves his hands perfectly free to use his drillin instruments to the best advantage. If he has to turn from the patient or is called away for a few minutes, the obtunder still continues its work and the operator is enabled to resume where he left off without having to spend considerable time in reproducing numbness to the part under treatment. Furthermore, the plate 7 by reason of its extending over the nostrils directs the fumes of the anesthetic in such a manner as to prevent their beinginhaled. Add to this the fact that the shield also serves as a holder and stretcher for the dam, and it will be seen that the apparatus has a wide range of utility.

Having thus described myinvention, What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with an ejector and means of connection with a source of anesthetic supply, of a holder having means for attachment to the patients body said holder having, also, means for supporting the ejector in a fixed operative position relativeto the surface to be operated upon.

2. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of an ejector having separate fluid-passages uniting in the common discharge-cocks controllin said passages and a flexible nozzle detachalily connected with the ejector, a holder for said ejector and means for supporting said holder on the head of the patient.

3. Inapparatus of the character described, the combination of an ejector and a combined shield and holder for the ejector having means for attachment to the patients head.

4. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of anejector and a holder therefor, said holder having meansof attachmentto the patients head and provided with means for holding the ejector oneither side of the patients mouth.

5. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of an ejector and a holder therefor, said holder havingmeans of attachment to the patients head and provided with means for holding the ejector on either side of the patients mouth, said plate shaped to extend over the nose of the patient and to operate as a shield.

6. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with an ejector, of a plate carried bythe patient and having means for removably holding the ejector.

7. In apparatus of the character described, the combination with an ejector, of a plate carried by the patient and having means for removably holding the ejector, said plate extending over. the nose of the patient and operating as a shield a ainst the inhalation of the discharged anesthetic.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with an ejector, of a plate carried by the patient and having means for removably holding the ejector, said plate extending over the nose of the patient and operating as a shield, said platehaving-means for the holding-and stretching of the rubber dam.

9. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination with an ejector, of a plate carried by the patient andhaving means for removably holding the ejector, said plate having-means for the holding and stretching of the rubber dam.

10. In apparatus of the character described, the combination of a plate shaped to rest upon the upper lip of a patient and having a convexed portion fitting over the nose, said plate having means for the attachment of the rubber dam, an ejector and means for removably supporting the latteron the plate and on either side of the patients mouth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CRITTENDEN VAN WYCK. Witnesses:

S. H. N OURSE, HENRY P. TRICOU.

IIC 

